Help! Chickens toes coming off!

[lazy gardener]

My back up plan is to visit the farmer down the road and pick up a "few more" bales of hay. I'm so very thankful for this man. His hay comes from fields that have not been "treated", so I am confident using it.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

That's great to find. We 1are both lucky! My horse hay all comes from a certified organic grain farm. His fields are actually fed by organic chicken manure in some complicated trade deal with a huge commercial organic egg producer. Funny the hay ends up in a backyard flock eventually.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I appreciate everyone’s input. As far as the roosts, what they have is the same size as any commercially bought coop. I love my chickens, but at the end of the day they are egg producers more so than pets. I don’t have the means to quarantine a sick chicken. I know that a lot of you will disagree with that statement, and I’m sorry.

I will go ahead and deworm the flock, because as I was reading into everything, from the looks of their stools and the egg production that’s likely present as well.

Very disappointing to say the least. I am going home after work to look at the rest of the girls. Really hoping all of that money isn’t down the drain.

You can only do your best. Just coming onto a site such as this and seeking advice shows that you care. Not all chicken keeping experiences start off well, but consider it a learning experience and move forward from here. I have a hen that ripped a toe off in the wire, another that had her comb ripped off and 2 x one eyed hens in my flock. Just as humans with special needs learn to cope with their disability animals do too. If you think that she is coping then I wouldn't worry too much about the cosmetic side of things.

 

[chickenmeadow]

My chicken run is almost always muddy! I didn’t know it needed to stay dry. I do have hay that I can throw in there.

Frankly, when chickens are outside they can't avoid stomping in mud. Mine get wet feet all the time & because of their scratching the ground up & there's no roof on their run, just small covered areas inside. It's impossible for me to keep their ground dry. I make sure to look them over every day for muddy clumps on the feet & toes, none so far. But I had some bantams years ago that would get dried on clumps that I would "de-clump" by hand. Sometimes we just do everything we can, & still new stuff comes up; all part of the fun with raising chickens. Best wishes.

 

[centrarchid]

When I specified dry, it was for the purpose of aiding the healing process of those feet. Keeping them chronically wet and dirty invites infection in the open wound where toes will be falling off. Even after that the feet will be tender for a few days.